Once again, I’m seated in front of a Classic Audio Loudspeakers system, with the Atma-Sphere Novacron monoblock amplifiers lighting the way. Now for some history on the Novacron; originally introduced in 1991, the Novacron was the first US product to use the classic 6C33C Russian power triode. Just within the last few years Atma-Sphere is making the Novacron again, now updated to Mk 3.3 status.… Read the full article

I caught up to Purist Audio Design‘s Jim Aud at RMAF, where the music flowed like water and the dynamics made the angels weep. This was a great room. Of course, this was also a Classic Audio Loudspeaker room, so this was a gloriously familiar sound. And yes, those were Novacron amps — new ones, this time — from Atma-Sphere driving them, and a Kuzma turntable spinning vinyl.

Mr. Aud was showing off a brand new cable — the Diamond Revision 30th Anniversary USB.… Read the full article

There are over 1,000,000 brands exhibiting here at Capital Audiofest … okay, okay, — I don’t know how many brands exactly, but it does seem like a lot this year. Which makes 2018’s event feel every bit like the “premier show of North America’s eastern coast”, that we often claim it to be. Fear not, as the rag-tag band of misfits from Part-Time Audiophile are here to be your surrogate audio show guide.

I ran to this room when I was told Classic Audio Loudspeakers would be demoing with the Atma-Sphere Novacron monoblock amplifiers. Originally introduced in 1991, the Novacron was the first US product to use the classic 6C33C Russian power triode. Twenty years later, Atma-Sphere is making the Novacron, now updated to Mk 3.3. A true brute in Class A tube terms, at only 60 watts. This was my first chance to hear them in the new form. The fine gentleman at Classic Audio Loudspeakers often demo with at least two pairs of behemoth sized field coil speakers.

When I started seeing reel-to-reel tape decks popping up at high-end shows a few years ago, I wrote it off as a novelty. Yes, good old vinyl was booming, but tape? Really? Then I heard Sonny Boy Williamson singing “The Sky Is Crying,” taken from a low-generation master, and reached down to ratchet my jaw back up off the floor.